(1) 1)Kobe Bryant/Los Angeles Lakers - Yup as much as I hate to do it, he deserves it. Leading his team to a 26 - 11 record and putting up solid numbers again (28Ppg - 5Apg - 6Rpg) his numbers should increase some with the loss of up and coming Andrew Bynum. If the Lakers win the division, Kobe DESERVES his 1st MVP award.

Last weeks avg's - 32PPG, 5PPG, 6APG

Key game of the week - Vs Denver Nuggets (19Pts, 5rebs, 11ast, 2 stl)

(2) 2)Kevin Garnett/Boston Celtics - Is leading the resurgence of the Boston Celtics with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Numbers are down a bit (19Ppg - 10Rpg - 4Apg - 1.5Bpg) but is the main reason why the Celtics started 30 - 4. He's MVP material in my book.

Last weeks avg's - 19 PPG, 9RPG, 6APG

Key game of the week - Vs New York Knicks (20pts, 13rebs, 7ast)

(NR) 3) Dwight Howard/Orlando Magic - Nicknamed "Thunder". Howard's abilities and powerful physique have thus drawn attention from fellow NBA All-Stars. Tim Duncan once remarked. He is so developed... He has so much promise and I am glad that I will be out of the league when he is peaking." Hvaing a career year as well (22PPG, 15RPG, 2.5BPG)

Last weeks avg's - 18PPG, 14RPG, 3BPG, 2SPG

Key game of the week - Vs Detroit Pistons (23Pts, 8Rebs, 3Stls)

(NR) 4) Lebron James Is having another great year (30Ppg, 8Rpg, 7Apg) has the Cavs at 8 - 1 in January and to think he just turnred 23 years old. His future is looking bright and when Cleveland finally decides to put some Talent around him then watch out. I see multiple titles in his future.

(4) 5)Chris Paul/New Orleans Hornets - Putting up career numbers across the boards(22Ppg - 4Rpg - 10Apg - league leading 2.8Spg) One of the up and coming Pg's in the league who is deserving of this spot. He has put this team on his back, and could carry them deep in the playoffs.

I can't wait for this game, after the Lakers took the 1st two game's the Suns have a chance to take one back in LA on Thursday night. A tragedy came upon the Lakers as Andrew "Bynumite" Bynum (Nickname made up by the lovely lakers fans on the CBS message boards) is out for 8 weeks with a injured left knee. With Bynum out the Lakers got outrebounded by the SuperSonics but came away with a OT victory. Hopefully the Suns can take advantage of the liabilty on offense that is Kwame Brown.

The key matchup IMO is Boris Diaw Vs Lamar Odom. Odom lead the team in rebounding and put up 7 assits, but did little of anything else which could mean that Odom is not to comfortable starting at the 4 with such a mediocre player like Brown at the 5. Hill is close to recovery but is still expected to miss another week or so. after missing the Utah game, Steve Nash and Shawn Marion came back to help beat the Millwaukee Bucks in Phoenix for the 20th consecutive time, 122-114, on Saturday night. So that's where the two teams pretty much are right now.